DOINGS IN DIVORCE.

NZ Truth, Issue 129, 7 December 1907, Page 4

DOINGS IN DIVORCE.

HUSBANDS AND WIVES SEEKING RELIEF. Why Smith Left Home! Mr Justice Button on the Job.

Lavina Dyson Smith is '• a wellpreserved lady with picturesque grey hair, who evinced a marked disinclination to. tell her age m the Divorce Court. Questioned by His Honor she blushed and Judge Button remarked, indulgently, "Oh, never mind." Her dreadful husband married her m September, 1877, and there were five children of the marriage, four surviving to battle m a hard and unsympathetic world. In 1890 the lady, by arrangement* with her husband, paid a visit to Brisbane, and then hubby disappeared, taking three boys with him. >r hc deserted wife understood that the unfaithful one had tripped to 'Frisco, but she didn't appear to know now he had fared m the earthquakeriven city during the late upheaval. For the space of seventeen long years he had failed to contribute to the support of his lawful missus, and she was about sick of it, arid sought a divorce, with the aid of Barrister Tripp. Decree nisi granted, to be made absolute m three months. It is not a considerable time since David Duncan and Emily Louisa, his wife, left lonely Whikapuaka,, the place where the cable comes ashore for the more exciting centre of Wellington. They hadn't been married a great while— ten . years or so— and had two lovely children, a boy and girl', when Emily took an : unaccountable aversion to her husband and REFUSED TO LIVE WITH HIM. In desperation he applied to the Supreme Court, three months back, through Barrister Toogood for the restitution of conjugal rights, and Justice Button ordered the woman to resume her wifely duty, but ! Emily treated this injunction with absolute contempt, and- on Thursday Dave, who toils at Kilbirnie, applied for a divorce, and also for the custody of his little girl, his wife retaining the boy as a sort of keepsake of the marriage. This is one of the very last applications under the open door clause of -the old act, and had the pair waited till after Christmas they would have continued as husband' and wife until death or adultery did them part. As it is the husband got a decree nisi, to be made absolute m three months. Justice Button heard three divorce petitions at Wellington yesterday, the first being that of Glennon y. Glennon. Mrs May Glennon stated m evidence that she was married to [her late hubby at Newtown N.S.W., lon December 13, 1-907. • and the brute started drinking just after the cereI mony. It was probable that the rheumatic fever he contracted was not due to beer, but the cheerful jbeverage lowered the tone of his system considerably and was no doubt a contributing cause.' In hopes that the rake would reform if removed from the evil- influence of his ! associates she sold out their hiisirjess [ and went home to dear old Hingland. I The thirsty person mopped up swanI key m the ' Cold Country to just . as [considerable an extent as formerly, m spite of the change of associates, and she resolved to remove to God's Own Country again, Glennon was a sort of animated brewery all the way out, and resembled a distillery during his subsequent stay m the Dominion. His principal amusement was to knock his wife and . family about, and any .person who lived with him had plenty of excitement. He had . , A S.TRONC DISTASTE FOR WORK, and she was just about to sue for a separation* m February, 1906, when Glennon disappeared, to. the inexpressible relief of the family. There were two boys, -aged eight and five years, and the unhappy mother sought a divorce on • the grounds of habitual drunkenness and failure to maintain. She testified to the above particulars, and Heber Walker, her brother, who is a yoifthful plumber, gave evidence respecting Glennon' s capacity of swill while m Sydney, also his brutality to the family. Thomas Walker, who isn't related to the family. came out from England with them and afterwards resided with them. Glenrion's predilection for beer at this period' was appalling, and Thomas frequently had to interfere with the vicious person was knocking his wife about. Decree nisi granted, to become absolute m three months. In the case of William Soames, his wife, Agnes Augusta, saw somebody else she liked better than her lord and master. They were married at Wellington on September 27, 1899, and love's youthful hallucination lasted for five or six years, with periodical differences of opinion, when an individual named Janies Lord appeared on the scene, and Soames informed his Honor that this lecherous individual had destroyed his happiness. They were at it twice. Did you catch them m the act of adultery ? asked his Honor, and petitioner acknowledged that he hadn't. What then ?— Oh, kissing and puddling one night m the Basin Reserve. The irate husband intervened, collared his wife, took her home and had a barney over the matter. The next incident was the demand by tradesmen for the payment of bills which the husband thought had been paid long since by the wife. On October 6, after Ms return from town, he found his wife absent m the nextdoor neighbor's and she refused to return to her own domicile. She remarked that SHE LIKED LORD BETTER than her own lawful husband, and Lord, who was present, struck a dra- ' matte attitude and said, "She's mine !" Soames had- no option but to leave them, and they slept togeth;.er m the house that night. Subsequently the erring couple left Wellington together under the name of j "Mr and Mrs Jas. Lord." In December Soam-es was subpoenaed by Jim Lord's wife to attend the Supreme Court to give eyidence against her husband m proceedings for divorce, instituted by her. Tmmocriately afteri wards Soames received a letter from

bis missing spouse, In which she signed herself, "Mrs James Lord." Lord also wrote on May 14 from Pa tea asking Soames to take his wife home again and forgive her. Soames, however, was irresponsive, and now sought divorce on the ground of adultery with Lord, Decree nisi granted, 'to be made absolute m three months, with costs on the lowest scale against Lord, if he 'is discoverable m the colony, but it is probable that he is seeking the favor of some other fair lady m a distant clime. A lady named Mrs McLeod also went astray from a moral point of view.. Giving evidence yesterday, Herbert James McLeod stated that he married Mary Edith May on August 14, '1895, and lived m Wellington for a couple of years, when his wife left him and picked up with a man named Thomas Morley, with whom she had been living' as his wife for ten years, first m Wellington and more recently m Pahiatua. McLeod saw them living m the W&irarapa iown a couple of months ago, and they appeared to be as happy m their wicked union as mifjht reasonably be expected m the circumstances. William -Reid served the petition of divorce on the guilty pair m Pahiatua : and testified to their intimate relationship. The woman admitted to him that she was living with Morley as his wife, and Morley said he wouldn't oppose the petition. A decree nisi was granted, with costs' on the lowest scale against Morley.